27. petunia.

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"Stop smiling," I hear someone say, and I look up momentarily from my textbook, "It's freaking me out,"

I roll my eyes, moving my bag away from the bottom of the tree I'm leaning against so that Bailey can sit down. Despite her words, she gives me a smile.

"What are you doing out here?" she asks, tucking her knees up to her chest. "I thought you had English?"

"I do," I say, shrugging, "But I need to revise,"

"Revise what?"

"Religion," I murmur, flicking back and forth between Aquinas, Plato's Cave, and The Fall. RS somehow makes it so that no matter how little the information is, it sounds as complex as possible.

"Right," Bailey says, reaching into her bag and taking out a can. She cracks it open right in front of me, mimicking every single Tumblr meme I've seen lately. Then she holds it out in my direction. "You thirsty?"

"What is it?"

"Fuck knows. Tastes good, though," when I shake my head, she shrugs, taking it back. "Why aren't you in the study hall if you're skipping English?"

I sigh, putting the textbook down. I really should be in study hall- it beats being out here in the cold any day- but I decided earlier not to.

Mainly because Beth Morane still exists, and Beth Morane has pissed me off to an unbelievable extent.

"Beth's breathing," I mutter.

"Ah, yes. Two words I never want to hear in the same sentence ever again," Bailey jokes, and I crack a small smile, "She's not in there now, though,"

"Hm?"

"Yeah. She walked in, saw that you weren't, and walked straight back out."

I roll my eyes, ditching my revision notes altogether as I lean against the tree, "She's an actual leech. Like, a human leech,"

"You can say that again,"

"Did I tell you about what she said to me?"

"Which one?"

"About Dylan and Chase,"

"Dad One and Dad Two?" Bailey asks. I nod. "Love those guys. And yeah, I think you did,"

I sigh.

"Look Soph, just forget it. Fuck her, because what the hell does she know?"

I nod, folding my arms and setting them on my lap. There's a silence that envelopes us, but it's comfortable, so I don't mind it that much.

"Did you see what Luke posted on his Instagram yesterday?" Bailey asks, scrolling through her phone and holding up a picture.

I smile at it; he looks good, really good. And it's funny, because the longer I get to know the man, the less I keep up with what he's doing. I don't think I need to anymore; everything's just a quick text away.

Speaking of which, I check my phone now. And like always, whenever I see a call or even a notification from him, my heart does a flip in my chest; I'll never quite get used to seeing Luke's name on my screen.

Please tell me I'm not the only guy to watch Instagram make up videos because they're satisfying

Okay, maybe not name, but contact user.

While I was at his house, Luke had taken my phone whilst I was in the shower and changed everything- all without me knowing.

I came back half an hour later with a towel wrapped around my head and an entire contact list filled with people I couldn't even name properly, much to his amusement. It was frustrating trying to get whoever I didn't recognise to own up.

Furthermore, I ended up texting Luke thinking that he was my actual father. Our first conversation after the name change happened exactly like this;

Baby

What the fuck

Language.

WHAT THE FUCK

What did Daddy say?

I WOULDN'T FUCKING KNOW YOU'VE BEEN AWAY FOR THE PAST YEAR AND A HALF WYD WHAT THE FUCK

It took an impromptu FaceTime call for Luke to tell me that it was him, and not Peter Hayes. Through endless chuckles and eyes that watered at the thought of me freaking out over my father calling me baby, he was finally successful in correcting me on what I needed to know.

I text him back now, genuinely thinking of changing his name back to avoid any further unwanted confusion.

No, Dylan and Chase watch them religiously

You're fine

Okay, good. Because I've been in the bathtub for the past hour now and they're all I've been looking at

Omg

?

Are you n a k e d right now

No I'm taking a bath with skinny jeans and a flannel on

What do you think sweetheart

I laugh slightly at the message, covering my mouth with my hand and attracting Bailey's attention.

She raises an eyebrow at me, but doesn't question anything.

That's hot

"Hey," Bailey nudges me, "You mind if I call the girls? I think they're on a free period,"

I nod, not really paying her any attention, "Sure. I don't mind."

Kinda hot?

Leave

Fine, I'll take my wet jeans and flannel with me

Want to know what else is wet?

"Hello? Yeah, it's Bails. I'm outside with Sophie. The big tree... no, not the one you stabbed with a pencil... the other one, yeah... okay... bring us food... if you get me a salad I will eat your entire family,"

I raise an eyebrow at Bailey, though she looks deadly serious.

"Yeah, okay, a sandwich it is..." she looks at me. "Want anything?"

"Just a drink, please,"

"Okay," she turns back to her phone, "Sophie wants a drink... yeah, because she's a thirsty ass bitch.... alright, that's all. Bye Ash, love you,"

Don't. I can't get hard again, I have somewhere to go

aGaIn

Seriously babe, don't

by Ed Sheeran

Wow

Okay I'm out

Of the closet?

Of the bath doll

:)))))))))Wyd

I just had a thought

Shouldn't you be in lesson?

Yesss and

Why aren't you in class?

I had an emergency

That is..?

I had to take an emergency nude

What the fuck

"You really love messing with him, don't you?" Bailey asks me amusedly. I had no idea she was even reading the messages.

I shrug, biting my bottom lip, "It's fun,"

"Well, what are you gonna do when he asks you for it and you have nothing to send?"

"Don't worry," I wave her off, thinking of the numerous albums and old shots I am saved on my phone, "I'll deal with it then,"

Why were you taking nudes?

To send to my boyfriend

Oh :-)

Are you serious

What?

":-)"

Is there a problem

Yeah

You just turned me off

You were turned on?

Yeah but not anymore jfc

I saw the smile and was just like s w i t c h

Like a lightbulb

"Is this your way of sexting?" Bailey laughs, and in the distance I can see two shadows coming towards us.

I laugh lightly alongside her, finding it amusing how she has absolutely no idea what Luke and I have been up to.

Well, can I turn you on again?

No, I'm in school

That's hot

I'm calling the police

No baby I didn't mean it like that

I meant it like you could get caught and that's exciting

Not like school makes me hard or anything jesus christ

School doesn't make me hard I promise

You do

"Marry him," Bailey says automatically, slumping back against her side of the tree as both Ashley and Chloe join us. "Marry him, and never let him go,"

"What's going on?" Ashley asks, smiling as she hands me my water bottle.

"Just Lophie," Bailey says, sighing dramatically, "The feels are too much,"

"Oh, shut up," I roll my eyes.

Idk about you but school actually does turn me on

Like English Literature ? English c l i t erature

OH MY GOD I AM A GENIUS

I am honestly going to cry I'm literally going to start calling it that

Hold me I'm unstable

My girlfriend is an idiot

...

Wait what now

I just screamed

Like really loud

???

G i r l f r i e n d

Why do you do this to me

I hate you

What did I do?

You can't expect to call a fangirl your girlfriend and not have her freak out

Right now I can't breathe

Please breathe :-(

"Fucksake," I hear someone mutter, and since it's coming from my left, I know it's Ashley.

"What?" Chloe asks.

"The leech." the girl mutters back, and my head snaps up almost immediately; eyes landing on the view of none other than Beth Morane making her way towards us.

"Hi, you guys!" she grins.

I genuinely breathe

Please baby

No you're choking me too hard

Wtf

Where did that even come from

I don't know I'm sorry

You're so naughty

I just screamed again

Because of me? ;-)

Take the nose away

Because of me? ;)

Take the entire face away

Because of me?

Yes

Good

Want to see what you've done to me?

"Who are you texting?" Beth's chirpy voice sounds over my shoulder as I practically jump out of my skin, almost dropping my phone in the process.

"N-No-one," I mutter, picking it back up. She just hovers for a bit, before shrugging and resuming her very one-sided conversation with Ashley.

No, you can't send me anything

Why not?

Luke I'm in school with people I don't like ok you can't send me anything

Pls

Ok fine

I'll just find some other girl to love me its ok pfft

You do that

What the fuck no

Soph I didn't mean it wtf

Come back what

By other girl I meant Petunia I swear

Petunia, his dog. And very cute dog, at that.

Seriously I wouldn't have sent you a dick pic or anything anyway if you didn't ask for it I'm not like that

:-(

I can't help but laugh silently at my phone, watching as his frantic messages come through one by one.

Petunia is the better Hemmings

I take it back I'm in Petunia's lane

First of all, rude

Second of all, she loves me more than you

Oh yeah? Prove it

I will

"Looks like you're having a very heated conversation, there," Beth teases, nudging me lightly.

I refrain from ignoring her; everyone else has fallen silent, watching the sudden exchange like it's a movie.

"I'm just talking to someone. It's no big deal," I say nonchalantly, trying to play it off. But Beth is relentless.

"Then who is it?"

Are you ready for this

Like I'm gonna put it on my Instagram but this just proves that Petunia loves me more than you

Hold on

*1 Image Attachment*

Told you

Luke, she's sleeping

Sleeping because she got tired of loving me too much

This time, I really do laugh out loud, staring at the picture of him and Petunia with the biggest smile on my face. Luke has got to be one of the cutest, goofiest people I know.

I open up the keyboard again, thinking of smart things to say that'll spin the conversation in my favour. Of course, I have to compliment the dog; that's a priority. Hands down.

My fingers make the move to type when, out of nowhere, my phone is ripped out of my hand- and a loud shriek is what emits throughout the entirety of the school field.

"Is that-" Beth Morane yells, using her forefinger and thumb to zoom into the image. My eyes widen, my mouth falling agape, "Is that Luke Hemmings?!"

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